Jim’s Blog: ACC’s Next Car is a Truck?

Written by Jim Pickering

Last week, ACC Auctions Editor Tony Piff and I hopped a flight to Detroit. While we were there, we visited with longtime ACCer Ken Lingenfelter and checked up on our old 1964 Nova wagon, which sits prominently in one of the rooms of his massive car collection.

We completely restored that car while we owned it, and it looks just as good now — if not better — than the day we sold it to Ken at Barrett-Jackson a few years ago. Seeing it in Ken’s showroom still with ACC stickers on the windows got me thinking about what cars we’ve had, what we haven’t had, and what we need to have next — especially now that decent weather is starting to set in across the U.S.

Since we started ACC back in 2011, we’ve had one GM and two Mopars: that Nova, the ’63 Dodge 440 Hemi drag car, and our 2000 Dodge Viper ACR. Both the Nova and the 440 have gone on to new homes, but the Viper is still here and still in demand with our staff. I don’t think it’s moving on any time soon, so whatever we get now will be in addition to the Viper, rather than a replacement for it.

Here at HQ, we’ve talked about everything from a GMC Syclone to a C4 Corvette to a Road Runner to an AMX with the Go Package.

But there are a lot of cool Fords out there, and since we have had experience with the other two Big Three builders, the Blue Oval is where I’m looking first. And since we’ve already got something sporty in that Viper, I think its time for a truck.

What kind of truck? Well, back when I was fixing cars for a living, I worked on a ’67 F100 short bed that I thought was very cool. It was chalky white — its original paint — and had a 300-ci six and a three-on-the-tree. Apart from being theft-proof in today’s world with the column-shifted manual, a truck like that would also be pretty useful here at the magazine, from hauling parts to hauling books and magazines to events. Stencil it up with ACC graphics, and we’d have a cool driver. Ford trucks from this era, as Chad Tyson pointed out in his One to Watch column a few months ago, have some upside in the market. In general, I’d be interested in half-ton trucks from ’67 through about ’72. Best bet for usability is probably a V8 with automatic.

My biggest question is this: Should it be a budget buy? Would you, as a reader, be more interested in seeing us document some of the tricks and challenges behind making an inexpensive classic nice, reliable, and worth more, or would you rather see us buy one that’s already done and use it?

Either way, our overall budget is about $20k, which should get us something pretty decent, regardless of whether we approach it as a project or finished product.

Should we buy a truck, and what do you think we should look for? Let me know in the comments below. And look for more about our visit with Ken Lingenfelter in the next issue of ACC!